5 Ways to Make Your Sales and Marketing Teams Work With – and Not Against – Each Other

While both teams wouldn’t agree, sales and marketing are two sides of the same coin. Even though they are both driven by the same goal – to maximise ROI – it is easy for both to get carried away thinking they’re the ones bringing dinner home, and the other partner is dispensable. Two very powerful and strong elements of a company constantly being at loggerheads and having ego clashes with each other can severely impact how well the company does. More important, however, is the fact that two elements that are so strong and powerful can really bring home the big bucks – if they can be aligned in such a way as to work together with each other, rather than working against each other.

5 Tips to Better Align Your Sales and Marketing Teams

1. Chasing the same goal:

Both Sales and Marketing need to understand that their work is going to be incomplete without the support of the other. Not only that, coordination and cooperation is going to be the only way that both Sales and Marketing can achieve the overall target of the company – conversions.

2. A little Yin in Yang, and vice-a-versa:

Marketing’s job is to generate leads in such a way that they are already convinced about buying your product/service. In other words, Marketing should be strong enough to not just generate a lead, but to make a ‘sale’ happen. On the other hand, Sales’ job is to ensure they pitch your product or service in such a way to the generated lead that there is no other option left but to make a purchase. In other words, Sales should do the final ‘marketing’ that converts in a purchase.

3. Equal accountability:

Marketing and Sales should have equal responsibility and accountability when it comes to increasing ROI for a company. If there is one thing that has significantly changed over the years, it is that a buyer is now more informed by the time he comes to the shop to make a purchase, the ‘informant’ being content marketing. If such is the case, a company cannot afford to have sloppy Marketing, and hold only Sales responsible for ROI-targets. While Marketing has traditionally never been tied to ROI, it would be wise to change this.

4. Quantifiable Marketing targets:

While targets – and hence performance – is easily quantifiable when it comes to Sales, it is tricky for Marketing. But tricky does not mean impossible. Marketing goals need to be quantifiable, for the team to be able to successfully contribute to increasing ROI. Find out ways to measure how effective your marketing has been so far, and then revise your marketing strategies based on this historical data.

5. Breaking the pattern:

To give your ROI a hyper jump, you must step out of your comfort zone and try something new. However, it is best to come up with a new action-plan basis some facts, which once again underscores the significance of historical data. Run the new strategy on a pilot scale, measure results, optimise the process, and either adopt it or discard it for a new experiment. The same tricks will bring applause only so many numbers of times. Reinvention is the key.

Bonus Tip: Have an ABM Team

While focusing on alignment of your Marketing team and Sales team, it might also be wise to rethink your marketing strategies basis particular accounts you might be hoping to attract – in other words, Account-based Marketing, or ABM. The advantage of ABM is that there is a better chance of increased ROI, since you know exactly what your buyer is looking for, and are hence better able to cater to his needs. The down-side is that it can greatly limit the prospective buyers you attract, tying Sales’ hands together and limiting their potential. However, this can be off-set but not investing your entire Marketing team in ABM, but instead have a separate ABM team that can work regularly to attract different prospective accounts.

So there you have it: a starter program to align your Sales and Marketing guys to maximise your conversions. The key is to remember and remind, from time to time, that everyone is working for the same Big Daddy – money!

Bob Samuels

Bob creates ‘double-mitzvah’ win-wins in B2B lead generation by utilizing analytics and strategic relationships. He has a strong background in finance, marketing optimization, and sales enablement.

Before founding TechConnectr, Bob co-founded Los Gatos-based NetLine Corporation, a leading digital B2B marketing solution provider, where he oversaw the execution of hundreds of performance marketing programs from a wide range of clients, including Dell, Salesforce, Marketo, Microsoft, and IBM. At QuinStreet and Ziff Davis/Salesify, Bob was responsible for creating and nurturing strategic relationships with a variety of best-in-class data and marketing solution providers. He utilizes his Big-Four accounting and Fortune-500 business acumen to create success for all parties.